reveals the astonishing sex change of tough Rifleman Dave He used to be a crackshot squaddie who boozed and pulled girls..

THIS stunning blonde with fabulous 34-inch legs, smouldering eyes and luscious lips really is a bombshell.

For Denise Michelle used to be a soldier MAN - a tough crackshot and close combat expert who'd pull women, lift weights, banter in the barracks and ride motorbikes.

Now gorgeous Denise, 38 - formerly known as Dave - looks at a photo of the rugged infantryman out to prove himself to the world and says: "I see someone who felt hollow inside. I wasn't happy as a man.

"I was existing, not living. It's only now as a woman I'm happy enough to smile."

Denise - then rugged Rifleman Dave - had a successful career in a crack regiment and was well-regarded by senior officers.

She says: "I made a very good soldier. I loved shooting and was an excellent shot at the rifle range. It was fun."

But despite blending into macho Army life, tattooed Rifleman Dave longed to be feminine. Denise says: "I went out and bought women's underwear, saying it was for my girlfriend, and secretly kept it in my locker. I was terrified of being found out but it was something I just had to do.

"Towards the end of my service, I started wearing women's knickers under tracksuit bottoms if I was on light duties at the base.

"There was no way I would have worn them on exercise under my uniform though. The risk of being in an accident and getting caught out was too high."

Denise, who hopes to have a full sex-change operation this year and is dating another transsexual man taking the same route, added: "People say I'm a blonde bombshell with legs to die for. I feel really good about myself."

The 6ft 1ins head-turner, whose dad was a soldier in the Royal Green Jackets for 20 years, knew from the age of five she wanted to be a girl.

She said: "When my family corrected me, saying I was a little boy, not a girl, I thought 'No, you're wrong. You'll realise eventually'."

Denise, eldest of four children, suffered with her girlie feelings as she moved from one Army base school to another in Germany

She said: "I did my best to fit in. But my best was never quite good enough.

"I loved being outdoors, climbing trees or cycling on my push bike. That was boyish enough.

"But I had a gentle, caring nature and it always seemed to give me away. I was bullied mercilessly for being so effeminate throughout school."

After leaving school, the teenage Dave tried to bury his female feelings by following his dad into the Army.

Incredibly he hoped the entrance medical examination would reveal he was a woman.

Denise says: "Of course, it didn't. I was trying to be the man everyone said I was but I knew I was living a lie." Amazingly none of Rifleman Dave's comrades realised he was struggling desperately with his sexuality.

Denise says: "I liked it all, the skiing, parachuting, canoeing, it was exciting stuff. But at the same time, as a man, I was very unhappy.

"I was just one of the lads but as a woman now I can see how boring and false that macho behaviour can be. They would be laughing and joking and being aggressive.

"Sometimes it was real, but more often it was all a lie for lots of them too. Most of that bravado was an act."

After serving in Northern Ireland, Germany and Canada for four years, Rifleman Dave decided to quit.

Four months later he was at his GP's with a minor complaint when he burst into tears and revealed his secret longings.

He was sent to the Gender Identity Clinic at Charing Cross Hospital in London where he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria - a condition in which people are unhappy with their sexuality. Despite the diagnosis, Dave tried even harder to be masculine.

He took up the martial art Taekwondo and weightlifting and turned into 14 stones of muscle, working as a bouncer.

But Denise says: "There was always something lacking emotionally. I felt I just couldn't click with a woman."

Amazingly many of the girlfriends accepted that their new bloke liked dressing up as a woman.

Denise says: "I always went for open-minded women. I told them early on what I liked to do.

"Most of them accepted me for who I am. Some even found it a turn-on."

Finally, in January 2003, Dave took the momentous step of changing his identity to Denise.

She says: "I chose my name from a key fob I saw in a shop. Denise, it said, meant kind, warm and a lover of wine, which I think describes me well." Now Denise takes hormones to soften her skin and feminise her shape and has laser treatment to remove facial hair and her tattoos.

She also visits a voice coach to train her to speak more like a woman.

She says: "I hope to have a full sex change on the NHS this year after fulfilling the criteria of living and working as a woman for two years."

Denise, a printer engineer from Slough, Berks, shares her life with Sarah, another man preparing to have a sex-change op. Both are on female hormone treatment which destroys their sex drive.

Denise said: "The best thing about our relationship is our strong emotional connection.

"We're just struggling a bit with the physical side of things. I think she is really attractive and sometimes get jealous of the attention she gets."

Denise's family have fully accepted her transformation and refer to her as a woman now. But sometimes she gets abuse from strangers. She said: "Maybe my height gives me away. If I'm in a pub sometimes young guys point and say 'bloke' or 'poof' but I don't let it worry me.

"I'm still a fit, strong person and capable of looking after myself. I have been known, even as Denise, to square up to a bloke if they challenge me.

"Usually that shuts them up and they slope off without another word."

Just before Christmas a gang of girls tried to mug Denise but they got a shock. She said: "I got one in an arm lock and threw another one who tried to hit me with a broken bottle."

Despite the difficulties Denise has faced, she can't help smiling at how she has changed.

She said: "I am glad that I have lived as both a man and a woman. But I want people to understand I am not TRYING to be a woman, I AM a woman.